Rampage killer's guns were licensed

Gun cartridges are removed from a cupboard inside the house belonging to Derrick Bird in Rowrah

Derrick Bird was licensed to own the two guns he used to murder 12 people in a three-hour rampage apparently sparked by a family feud, it has been revealed.

As emotional tributes were paid to his victims, detectives were piecing together what made the quiet taxi driver launch a massacre in Cumbria on Wednesday.

Locals suggested Bird might have snapped after a row with his brother over a will or following an argument on Tuesday night in which he accused other cabbies of stealing his passengers.

It emerged that the 52-year-old divorced father of two was convicted of theft in the 1990s, but was allowed to obtain a shotgun licence in 1995 and a firearms licence for a rifle in 2007. Critics questioned whether police could have kept the death toll lower by stopping Bird sooner.

Meanwhile, survivors spoke of their terror at coming face-to-face with the cold-eyed gunman as he calmly shot passers-by before driving on.

Bird's trail of killing began when he left his home in the village of Rowrah just before 10am armed with a shotgun and a .22 rifle with telescopic sight. He is thought to have driven to nearby Lamplugh, where he shot dead his twin brother David.

The gunman continued to Frizington, where he murdered family solicitor and good friend Kevin Commons, 60, on the driveway of his home. Bird then drove to the town of Whitehaven, where he shot at least three fellow taxi drivers, killing Darren Rewcastle.

A second cabbie, former soldier Don Reed, was shot in the back, but managed to crawl away on his hands and knees.

Bird, a former Sellafield worker who recently became a grandfather, then drove through the picturesque Cumbrian countryside blasting people he encountered along the way.